The Dark Side of Me
by goyankeesbooredsox
Summary: Feeling unneeded, unwanted, and depressed Sakura decides to leave Konoha. But things get turned upside down when Akatsuki decide to make her their medic. Will Sakura ever be happy? S
1. Run Away

I know I probably shouldn't be starting another story but I got inspiration for this story and I just had to write it. Don't worry, I'll be updating almost all my other stories within the next week. Hopefully. So just sit back and enjoy my newest story!

Disclaimer: I quite obviously don't own Naruto if I'm making a fan fiction about it.

I'm always the happy one, not a care in the world, right? Wrong. Inside everyone there is another side, their dark side. For some this is their normal self, like Sasuke, or for others that suffering is common knowledge, like Naruto.

But others, they push it back, fight against it, fight for their sanity. Like me.

Looking at me you wouldn't ever guess the inner struggle. I hide everything behind a happy mask that fools everyone. Yet I feel my other side climbing to the surface, struggling for control, demanding to be set free.

Every day I stare for a moment at the kunai in my hand, wondering about the sweet release that others claim it brings, but I fight the urge. Every day my gaze lingers a moment longer, my mind wonders a second more.

Who would ever guess the happy one to be torn up inside? Who would ever guess the cheerful one to be filled with longing for someone, anyone to come fill the aching hole in her soul, the blank place where the darkness creeps in from? No one, that's who.

That's why no one has ever noticed it before. Not Kakashi, not Naruto, certainly not Sasuke, not even my mentor, Tsunade. But even the strongest warrior is brought down eventually, their spirits in tatters from the struggle.

Sakura sighed in exhaustion as she trudged back to her house after a long day of training. At the moment her happy mask was gone from her face, replaced by the sadness and loneliness that tore at her heart.

Empty silence tore the hole in her heart even bigger as she walked into the deserted house she lived in. A few months ago Sakura's parents had abandoned her, saying simply to her tearful pleading, "We have never loved you, Sakura. The only reason we stayed is we felt some obligation to stay until you could take care of yourself since we were responsible for bringing you into this world."

Looking back now, Sakura could see the falseness in their faces as they smiled and said they cared about her. _I was never wanted,_ Sakura thought bitterly as she padded into the kitchen to find something to eat. _And I probably never will be._

Sakura cursed silently when she saw what was in the refrigerator, or rather, what wasn't in the refrigerator. Some moldy cheese, expired milk, and soggy lettuce were the only objects that met Sakura's hungry gaze.

Perfect.

On top of her gloomy thoughts, there wasn't any food in the refrigerator to appease the rumbling of her empty stomach.

Sighing, Sakura walked over to her knife drawer and pulled out a slim, sharp knife. She had purposely not healed herself this afternoon. No one would notice a couple more cuts on her already bruised and cut up body.

A thin trickle of blood flowed down her arm from a small cut on her forearm. For the first time that night, Sakura's tense muscles relaxed. Something about the simplicity of blood flowing soothed Sakura's troubled mind and brought about a peace that was so rare nowadays.

Still in a sort of trance, Sakura washed the dried blood off her arm and collapsed into her bed.

The next morning Sakura was walking down the street to the grocery store, her mask firmly in place.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," she greeted cheerfully when she caught sight of her raven-haired teammate.

He looked up from the tomatoes he was examining long enough to reply, "Good morning." For a second Sasuke could have sworn he saw a shadow cross Sakura's happy face at his emotionless tone, but he dismissed the thought as foolishness. Sakura was never sad.

Mask hiding her emotions, Sakura continued her shopping. To anyone watching, she was Sakura Haruno, happy-go-lucky and without a care in the world. Inside however, her spirits were lower than ever at Sasuke's lack of feelings.

Before Sakura put away her groceries when she got home, she filled her empty stomach.

Feeling lonely on the beautiful Sunday afternoon, Sakura walked over to Ino's house. "I'm sorry, Ino's out with Shikamaru," Ino's mother apologized when Sakura asked her if Ino was home. The same response was repeated when Sakura went to all her other friends' houses. They were either out with their boyfriend/girlfriend or out with their other friends. With nothing better to do, Sakura walked to the training fields to, well, train.

"This is unusual to see you here, Sakura," said a familiar voice from behind her.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun!" She smiled brilliantly, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Hn, I was supposed to spar with Naruto today but he ate too much ramen and got sick, the moron. Will you spar with me instead?"

Shock briefly halted any reaction.

"Sure!" she said when she regained her composure.

Pulling on her black gloves, Sakura faced Sasuke. He had grown more mature in his time with Orochimaru, and he was also incredibly stronger. The last thing Sakura saw before Sasuke flickered out of sight was the blood-red of his activated sharingan.

_Behind._

Sakura flipped to avoid a punch Sasuke shot at her back. Mid-flip, Sakura planted her hands on the ground and drove her heel up, loaded with chakra for a devastating blow. But Sasuke, with his sharingan, anticipated her attack and grabbed her ankle, tossing her into a tree.

Suddenly, the effect of last night's cutting caught up to her, and she sank to her knees, desperately trying to cling to reality.

"You're still weak," Sasuke scoffed as he walked off. However much Sakura had hardened her heart, those words still stung.

Trudging home, Sakura was lost in a cloud of depression. Who honestly needed her here? Even if she had grown stronger from her genin days, she was still weak in comparison to her two teammates.

A plan formed in her mind as she laboriously healed all the wounds she has acquired over the past few days.

No one would make much of a fuss if she left, would they? Naruto might mope a bit, but he now had Hinata to help him get over it. Kakashi she saw only on rare occasions. Sasuke just wouldn't care. As a matter of fact, they would be grateful she was gone; she didn't do much of anything except work in the hospital, and there were plenty of other, more talented people to take her place.

So Sakura decided to leave Konoha.

She remembered how hard people had worked to get Sasuke back when he had left. 'But he was worth something, being one of the last of the Uchihas,' her mind reminded her cruelly.

Shaking her head to rid herself of these thoughts, Sakura began to pack.

Over the next week Sakura gradually gathered all the supplies she would need. The thought of her plan helped Sakura endure Sasuke's iciness when she, Naruto, and Sasuke got together for their weekly spar.

And, finally, Saturday night came around. Sakura had already decided to leave Saturday night since Sunday was her day off, so nobody would notice her gone until she didn't show up for work on Monday. It would give her a day's head start.

Glancing around the house she had always lived in, Sakura made sure she hadn't forgotten anything as she climbed the stairs to retrieve the last thing she needed.

Hidden underneath her bed was Sakura's most prized possession. She had saved up money for three years to buy a katana. But this was no ordinary katana. Sakura could channel chakra into it and the katana could release it in a blast of energy ten times stronger than the amount of chakra she had originally channeled in. Or, she could store chakra in it and draw on that store when she was low.

Now, Sakura unsheathed the katana to make sure it was still sharp and in good condition. The steel gleamed dangerously in the moonlight that filtered through Sakura's window, and the sharpened edge shone sharply, filled with the promise of pain. Patterns of falling cherry blossoms were etched into the flat part of the blade.

Satisfied, Sakura sheathed the katana and strapped it to her waist. She opened her window and jumped outside, racing for the gates. When she reached the gates, she turned and stared back at the village that had been her home for sixteen years, happy memories of her past flooding her mind. But Sakura pushed them back. Her resolve would not be broken by memories of something that wasn't true.

Then she turned and disappeared into the trees.

I decided to make a story about a darker Sakura. It's so unnatural for someone to be that happy all the time. Anyways, does anyone know any good sites where you can post original stories? I tried google but I couldn't get anything. Remember, REVIEW!!! Good little minions.


	2. Akatsuki

Twelve reviews so far! Since you people seem to love my story so much, I'm actually going to remember to update!

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At the Akatsuki Hideout

The Leader paced furiously around his bedroom. Out of the 200 people that made up the organization, including the core members, only two could heal somewhat. Two. Too many people were getting sick and being sidelined by injuries. They were the strongest and most feared group in the whole world and they didn't even have one talented healer.

His thoughts turned to possible people that they could capture to be forced into healing the members. The obvious choice was Tsunade, renowned throughout the shinobi lands for her unmatched healing abilities. But her being Hokage made it too difficult to get at her. The next best thing was someone who was apprenticed under Tsunade.

Loud knocking interrupted the Leader's thoughts. "Come in," he said, not bothering to hide the annoyed tone of his voice. A nervous teen wearing the traditional black and red uniform of a low-ranking member walked into the room. "What is it?" Leader snapped.

"Um, I just returned from spying in the Fire Country around Konoha, and I heard some thing that might interest you, sir," the teen stammered out.

"Go on," Leader said.

"Well, everyone here knows how your want a medic and I heard news that would be beneficial on that topic. Haruno Sakura, the Hokage's prized student, ran away from Konoha and been declared a missing-nin."

Silence greeted the revelation as the Leader thought. Slowly, a smile spread across his face. This was exactly what he wanted. "Go tell Itachi and Kisame to come here. They have a new mission," Leader ordered.

With Sakura

Sakura jumped quickly through the trees, all her senses on high alert. Her missing presence was probably noted by now and teams of hunter-nin were on her trail by now.

It was her heightened senses that saved her life.

A kunai sliced silently through the air at her. Sakura felt it a second before it would've hit. Instead of being hit in the back of her head, she got a small cut on her cheek as she dodged to the side. The kunai buried itself in a tree as two huge chakra sources revealed themselves. Sakura began to tremble; she wasn't strong enough to take on whoever it was that had come. With the amount of chakra these people had, they were S-class criminals, more than likely.

"If you stand quietly, we will not hurt you," a voice told her from the trees surrounding Sakura. The voice vaguely reminded Sakura of Sasuke's voice. It had the same cold, emotionless tone as his.

Slowly, Sakura knelt on the branch she stood on, the picture of obedience. Secretly, she charged her fist with chakra so that when the chakra sources came close enough, she would be ready. But when she saw who stepped from the trees, her blood ran cold.

Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame silently appeared from the shadows of the forest.

"We do not wish to harm you," Itachi said. "We are here merely to take you with us, not kill you."

"What do you want me for?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"Our organization, Akatsuki, is in need of a talented healer, and you are the best choice."

"And if I choose not to come?"

"We will either bring you in by force or kill you," Itachi said, no emotion whatsoever in his eyes.

Sakura began to laugh. This surprised even the Uchiha, though he didn't show it.

"You might as well kill me. I'll be no use to you. I wasn't even the greatest healer in Konoha," Sakura said when she finally stopped laughing.

"You don't understand," Itachi said. "You are coming with us no matter what."

Sakura didn't even see him move. The last thing she felt was pressure on the back of her neck and then she fell into blackness.

When Sakura awoke, her arms and feet were tied. After her momentary disorientation passed, she began to fight her bonds. But the ropes tying her up absorbed all the chakra she channeled to her hand, so she couldn't use her super strength.

"Welcome, Haruno Sakura, to the Akatsuki's headquarters," a shadowy voice said.

A figure stepped into the light from the shadows at the corner of the room. The man who emerged wore the black and red robes of a core member of Akatsuki and his hair was spiky.

"You've been a bad little apprentice, haven't you, running away like that," he continued. "I wonder why some one with a perfect life in the perfect village would run away."

"My life was anything but perfect," Sakura said, bitterness laced in her voice.

"Then, if you hate the Leaf Village for what they've done to you, why don't you join us? As a healer here you'd be respected far more than any person in Konoha could respect you."

"None of them respected me. They all thought I was too weak," Sakura whispered, her own words condemning her.

"So you're willing to stay with us, if only to spite the people who scorned your amazing talents?" The Leader's soft, almost compassionate sounding, words broke through barriers in Sakura's mind that had never been broken before. His words made her think of all the suffering she had endured in Konoha because no one remembered her.

"That's right, you would never be alone again if you stayed with us. Everyone would admire you and want to be your friend."

Those words were the only thing that crumbled Sakura's weak, remaining resistance.

"I'll join you and heal your members," Sakura said, an indescribable look in her jade eyes.

"Good, I'll assign you one of the core members to look after you for the first week and to show you to where your room is. You'll start your work tomorrow."

Uchiha Itachi walked in to the room.

"Itachi will show you how things are done around here. Report to me at the end of each week on how things are going."

Itachi turned around and started walking, clearly expecting Sakura to follow him. Many members stared at Sakura as she and Itachi walked through multiple hallways to the wing where the core members' rooms were.

Five of the doors had names etched on them: Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, Toby, and Zetsu. The sixth door had Sakura's name on it.

"As the organization's only real healer, you get a room in this wing," Itachi said. Sakura stared around the large bedroom. It had a bathroom attached on the side, a bed, a desk, and a closet.

"Wait a minute, did you say I was the only healer?" Sakura said, Itachi's words now penetrating her head. But he was gone already.

Upon inspection, Sakura found the closet was full of the uniform of the core members, complete with the black and red robe. Sakura collapsed on the bed. _What have I gotten myself into?_ she wondered, dread twisting like a snake in her stomach.

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Yay, new chapter! It was kind of short, but the next one will be much longer. And I asked this last chapter but no one responded so I'm going to ask again, does anyone know of a sight where you can post your own original stories? I really need to know. Now, be a good reader and go review!


	3. Unwelcome

I am really sorry I haven't updated for so long. I've been too busy. But I'll try to update one more time this week.

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Sakura must have fallen asleep at some point as she thought about what she had gotten herself into.

Groggily, she realized someone was knocking on her door. Her mind finally catching up, she remembered all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

When she opened the door, Itachi stepped into the room, carrying Sakura's prize katana. "My katana!" she exclaimed. In all the excitement, she had completely forgotten about her katana.

Wordlessly, Itachi handed the katana back to Sakura. A loud bell began to chime through the complex, startling Sakura. "It is time for dinner," he said. Before Sakura followed Itachi out into the hall, she placed her katana on her pillow, intending to move it to a better hiding spot when she returned.

Once again, members stared and pointed as Sakura and Itachi passed them on the way to the dining hall. Inside the hall, it finally struck Sakura just how large the whole organization was. Twenty thirty-feet long tables filled the room, and one table with ten seats headed the other tables. Every seat was taken at the large tables, but only five seats were taken at the head table.

Sakura stood behind the table, unsure of what she should do. Then Itachi pointed to the empty seat next to him as an indication of where she should sit. As soon as she sat, people came streaming from the kitchens, bearing platters of food for the hungry Akatsuki members. Sakura gratefully devoured the hot meal, having only eaten dry jerky the night before.

When everyone had finished eating, Leader stood up and all talk immediately ceased. "I'm sure all of you have been aware of our healer crisis." His voice reached throughout the hall effortlessly. Every head nodded emphatically. Sakura noted that over half the people in the hall wore bandages of some sort and some of the bandages had crimson stains on them where a wound had reopened. "But I have found a solution to this problem. The fifth Hokage's student herself has decided to help us."

Whispers shot through the room at his announcement. Sakura bent her head, her rose-petal hair covering her face. "Starting tomorrow, Sakura Haruno will see to any and all medical matters."

Back in Konoha

Tsunade drummed her fingers impatiently on her desk as she waited for the shinobi she had summoned to actually arrive.

This morning Tsunade had gone to the hospital to look for Sakura, only to be told that Sakura had not reported in that morning. Filled with worry, the Hokage had hurried to her student's house. The door was locked, but a wooden door was no match for Tsunade's super strength. A quick search through the house produced a note explaining Sakura's missing presence.

_If you are reading this, it means that I have left Konoha, never to return Please don't search for me, it isn't worth it. There are many more talented shinobi than I. Besides, my life here in Konoha is pointless. Maybe now I will be able to find happiness. Please tell Tsunade I am sorry._

_Good-bye forever,_

_Sakura_

Tsunade's eyes filled with tears. Right then she wanted to punch some thing, hard. How could she have been so blind to not see this coming? Sakura was her _student_, Tsunade was supposed to care for her!

When Tsunade had returned to her office, Sakura's note clutched in her hand, she had sent the summons for Gai's team, Kurenai's team, Asuma's team, and, of course, Kakashi's team.

The door was suddenly flung open and Naruto bounded into the room. "Do we get another mission today? Is it dangerous? Is it exciting?"

"Naruto, SHUT UP!" Tsunade yelled. Naruto shut up. He could see pain in her eyes and her white knuckles as she gripped something in her right hand tightly.

Sasuke and Kakashi came in much more quietly.

Twenty minutes later, all of the people Tsunade had called were assembled in the office. "This is a rescue mission," Tsunade said. "But it's not one you would be used to. Sakura Haruno has run away from Konoha. Your mission is to bring her back, _alive_."

"What!" Naruto screeched, making Shikamaru and Sasuke, who were standing next to him, wince. "Why would she leave? She was happy here!"

"Apparently not, Naruto," the Hokage said.

"What proof do you have that she left?" Sasuke asked. Instead of answering, Tsunade gave him the note Sakura had left. He read over it, thinking back to that day in the market when he had seen that shadow cross over Sakura's face. _So she really was sad_, he thought. He gave the note back to Tsunade.

"I don't care how long this mission takes, just_ bring Sakura back_," Tsunade said. "Dismissed!"

At the Akatsuki Hideout

Sakura made her way through the maze-like complex back to her room with ease. She had already memorized the route from her room to the dining hall after following Itachi that once. She unlocked her bedroom door and walked inside, only to stop short at the wreckage that had been her room, eyes widening in horror.

On the walls some one had painted the words "Go home, weakling spy!" in jagged black paint. Feathers and fluff covered the floor from when some one had ripped apart her pillows and mattress. But the one thing that Sakura noticed the quickest was her missing katana.

Sakura could feel the fury building in her body. Anger rolled off of her in waves. The other core members, feeling the fury coming from her room came to see what had upset the new member so much. They all stopped short when they saw the state her room was in.

But Sakura's logical thinking began to surface through her violent emotions. She had bonded the blade to herself so that no one else could use it against her and she could find it if she ever lost it. Closing her eyes, Sakura concentrated on finding the unique chakra pattern that was her katana. When she locked onto the pattern, she opened her eyes and grinned. Tobi shivered at the predatorial look of her grin and the ruthlessness in her eyes. "I can find the ones who did this," she said calmly.

She walked down countless halls, all the core members, except for Leader who was busy meeting with some one, following her. She stopped in front of a door that was in the chuunin level section of the complex.

Without caring about what the occupants inside might do, Sakura smashed the door down. Three girls scrambled to their feet as Sakura walked in. "Why did you steal my katana and wreck my room?" Sakura asked, her voice deathly quiet.

"You didn't deserve to be up there," one of the girls said boldly. "All of us work hard to move up even a little, but you just come prancing in and take a place in the core members' rooms when you were responsible for another core member's death."

Sakura listened through the girl's entire rant, her jade eyes like stone. "Would you like me to prove that I'm stronger than you air heads?" Sakura asked when the girl finished.

The girl snorted. "I won't lower myself so much as to actually fight with you."

"Too bad," Sakura whispered as she stood behind the girl. The girl instantly went pale and her eyes widened. She hadn't even seen Sakura move. Sakura punched all three of the girls into the wall, leaving craters where all of them had impacted. "Give me my katana, and this is the worst I will do," Sakura commanded.

Another girl who hadn't talked at all pointed to a desk that sat in a corner of the room. "It's in the top shelf," she whispered, wincing as she said it because Sakura had broken some of her ribs in the punch.

Sakura noticed this as well, and after she retrieved her katana, she said, "If you promise not to do any of this again I'll heal all of you." All the girls nodded. Sakura quickly healed all the broken and bruised ribs, and then returned to her room.

Before Sakura entered her room, Itachi came up behind her. "Tomorrow I will show you around the complex. Then you will begin your duties as the medic for Akatsuki." Sakura nodded then entered her room. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the new pillow.

With the Rescue Group

After two days of searching, they had still only found a trace of Sakura's chakra, and that was at the very beginning, only six hours out from Konoha. What had worried Sasuke most was the other chakra in the area as well. He hadn't told anyone, but he had also felt some of Itachi's chakra in the area as well.

Sasuke had second watch, so it was dark with only the stars and moon for company. He also had a lot of time to think about Sakura, which surprised him. The kunoichi had not crossed his thoughts for a while. She had seemed happy when he returned, but as he thought, he saw all the moments when Sakura's mask had failed and her inner sadness had shown through. Sasuke kicked himself for not recognizing it and for probably making it worse with his cold way of acting towards her. It was, he realized, the first time he had ever regretted being like he was towards another person. And he finally realized just how much he missed Sakura.

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Sasuke was a little OOC right there, but he had to be for the moment to seem right. Now give me incentive to write my next chapter and REVIEW!!


	4. Test

Sorry I didn't get in a second update last week. I was busy with soccer camp. But now, for the rest of the summer, my schedule is almost completely free so I should be updating every few days or so.

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Once again, Sakura awoke to the sound of someone pounding on her door. She quickly got out of bed and pulled on her clothes. When she opened the door, no one was there, but there was a note attached to her door. She quickly scanned Itachi's note, then left for the dining hall.

After breakfast, Sakura waited for Itachi in her room. When Sakura felt Itachi's chakra in the hallway, she strapped her katana to her waist and was waiting in the hallway for him when he walked up.

He merely looked at her with an unreadable expression, then turned and walked back down the hallway. Sakura, already used to his lack of words, knew he expected her to follow. It was around noon when Itachi finished giving Sakura a tour of the complex. The last place they stopped was the infirmary.

It was immediately obvious that the infirmary had not been used in quite some time. Dust an inch thick coated everything. Simply opening the door sent Sakura into a sneezing fit. All the tools that should have been shiny and sharp were dull and rusty. Inwardly, Sakura sighed. _I've got my work cut out for me,_ she thought. Itachi showed Sakura where all the cleaning supplies were kept, and then left her to her cleaning.

Two hours and many sneezes later, the infirmary was clean. Fresh sheets covered mattresses, rusty tools now gleamed brightly, and not a speck of dust was found anywhere. Sakura stood back and smiled happily at her handiwork. That was the last moment of quiet she got for five hours. All the injured people that had been waiting for her to finish now streamed into the room, demanding Sakura's immediate attention.

Finally, when the dinner bell began to ring, the last few people left the room. Sakura sat for a moment to catch her breath. In all, she had healed twenty-three infected minor cuts, seven infected severe wounds, thirty-three colds, and one man with severe pneumonia. That was more than she did in one week's worth of work in Konoha.

Inside, Sakura felt a rare glimmer of pride. _I did all this. And those fools in Konoha thought I was weak,_ she thought proudly. Her moment of gloating was interrupted, however, by Itachi coming to take her to the dining hall. She ate twice as much as she normally would, because she was drained from all the healing she did that afternoon.

After dinner, Sakura was trudging wearily back to her room, wanting nothing more than to take a hot shower then go to bed, when Itachi walked up. "Leader wants me to train you." It was evident from his tone that he would rather be doing anything else than training her.

"Now?" Sakura asked, barely stifling a yawn.

"Yes, now." He left no room for arguments and started back down the hall to the training room. Sakura had to run to catch up.

Sakura had seen the training room earlier, so it did not surprise her when it looked like they had just walked outside. Trees were grouped closely together and dirt crunched underfoot. "First, I will test your taijutsu," Itachi said.

Without warning, he charged at Sakura, aiming a punch at her stomach. Hastily, Sakura blocked the punch, but the force of it sent her stumbling back a couple of steps. Itachi took advantage of the opening and kicked her into the air. He then leaped up after her and smashed her back into the ground with such force, the breath exploded from her lungs, and she could only lie on the ground, gasping. Cold metal pricked her neck as Itachi put a kunai to her throat, declaring his win.

"You are slow," he said bluntly, "and your taijutsu level is barely that of a chuunin." Sakura, still struggling to breathe, could not argue. He then tested her ninjutsu, which was even worse than her taijutsu. But when he tested her genjutsu, she even impressed him.

"Very well, meet me here after dinner every night. We will work on your taijutsu mostly, some ninjutsu and very little genjutsu since you seem to be adept at it."

When Sakura went to bed that night, she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Over the next few days, Sakura woke up before dawn to go train in addition to her training sessions with Itachi in the evening. _I will not embarrass myself again_, she vowed. Every night she fell into bed, aching and sore, but feeling satisfied. The progress she had made was astounding. At first, Itachi could beat her in taijutsu in five seconds flat, but in just three days, she could now last seven and a half minutes against him. Her ninjutsu was going equally well. She learned several new jutsus, and her chakra control was as good as Itachi's.

Yesterday, Itachi had begun to teach her how to use her katana. This was slightly harder. She had never used her katana before, and using a katana was a complex art. But she felt herself improving. Her strength had been almost doubled since the first day Itachi had taught her a week ago. She felt confident that if she ever met up with Konoha hunter-nins, she would be able to win.

With the Rescue Group

The mood had improved slightly in the group upon the discovery of a strand of pink hair found near what had obviously been a camp fire. Pakkun had been able to trace the scent to a small town on the outskirts of the forest. But there were too many scents intertwining in the town for Pakkun to trace Sakura's.

"We need to split up. Ask around if people have seen Sakura. Meet back here in three hours," Kakashi ordered.

Sasuke already knew where he was going to go. Bars, as much as he hated them, were the best places to find information. He pushed open the door and was immediately hit with the scent of stale sake. Three serving girls had already noticed him, and were eying him with something akin to lust.

Sasuke sat at a table that was close to the door, so he could get out quick if he had to. The first girl that came up to him was wearing a very short dress that barely covered anything. "What would you like to drink?" she asked, giving him a sidelong glance that said more than words.

"Give me sake," he grunted, looking at the girl in the same way. He hated to do this, but he found out that when he really tried to seduce the girls, they talked. The girl brought him his sake. Before the girl could walk away, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his lap.

"How did someone like you get stuck working in a dump like this?" he whispered into her ear. He could feel her shiver as his breath tickled her ear.

"How did someone like you get stuck in a small town like this?" she whispered back, smiling coyly.

"I came to find someone," he said. "If you help me, maybe I'll reward you." He could see the girl was imagining his "reward."

"What do you want to know?" she asked as she turned so her bare thigh rubbed against his hand.

"Have you seen anyone with pink here recently? Naturally pink hair," he added, seeing that a lot of girls had dyed their hair pink in this place.

"I saw Itachi and Kisame come through here about a week and a half ago carrying a pink haired girl," she answered. Sasuke perked up. If she had been kidnapped by Itachi, it would make sense why he had felt Itachi's chakra near that battle site.

"Do you know where he took this girl?" Sasuke was careful to keep the excitement from his voice.

"To the Akatsuki hideout, of course," the girl snorted. "Almost anyone they take goes with them to the hideout."

"Do you know where the hideout is?" He barely dared to breathe. If this girl knew where the hideout was, he would have hit the information jackpot.

"Yeah, it's in a clearing just north of here. The ruins that are in the clearing are just a genjutsu. I know this for a fact because one of the higher ranked members took me there."

Sasuke abruptly pushed the girl off his lap and stood up. "Thanks for the help," he said, handing the girl a large sum of money. His mind was already far away as he left the girl looking disappointed behind. Impatience clouded his mind, and he almost fell when he jumped onto a branch that was clearly weak. It seemed to take forever before everyone in the group had met back.

"I didn't find anything," Naruto said with disappointment clear in his voice.

"Neither did I," Shikamaru yawned.

"Nothing," Kiba admitted, looking slightly ashamed.

"I found out everything we need to know," Sasuke interrupted. He couldn't stand being silent anymore. Everyone turned to look at him. "I found out that members of Akatsuki kidnapped Sakura and took her back to the hideout."

"That's all well and good, Sasuke, but we don't know where the Akatsuki hideout is," Kakashi reminded him, thinking that grief must have messed with Sasuke's mind. Though it was not obvious, Kakashi could see that Sakura's disappearance had hit Sasuke the hardest.

"I know where that is, too," Sasuke said as he shot a glare of annoyance at Kakashi for interrupting.

Naruto, who had been mercifully silent during the exchange, suddenly yelled, "What're we waiting for, let's go!" He made to go jump to the next tree, but Kakashi grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"We need to make plans. We can't just storm the Akatsuki hideout. For one, we're way outnumbered. Two, they have the advantage since they know the territory. So we need to sneak in," Kakashi said.

They all split into groups, Sasuke in the main one since he had the sharingan to help break through the genjutsu. Then, they all sprinted off to where that girl had told them the hideout was.

At the Akatsuki Hideout

It was a little past midnight when someone shook Sakura awake. She blinked fuzzily. When her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she realized that Itachi was the one who had shaken her awake.

"What is it?" she asked. Though she had been here not even two weeks, she knew that it was uncommon to be woken up in the middle of the night.

"Leader has a mission for us."

Sakura went still. _Finally, a chance to prove myself!_ she thought excitedly. She quickly pulled on clothes then followed Itachi to meet with the Leader.

The room she stepped into was very familiar; it was the room that she had woken up in when she had first been kidnapped.

"Welcome, Sakura. Itachi tells me you have made incredible progress in your nightly training sessions. Now it's time to put your skills, and your loyalty, to the test. There is a rather large group of Konoha shinobi heading our way. Your mission is to destroy them."

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I know evil cliffie. I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I just can't sit and type for long periods of time, so it may take a while for my next update. But to make up for the late update, I made the chapter longer. Now go REVIEW!!!


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